Faculty of ENGLISH
Faculty Leader: Mrs W Dixon
The Importance of Reading
A growing number of studies show that promoting reading can have a major impact on children and their future.
There is a relationship between reading frequency and attainment. Evidence from a study found that reading enjoyment is more important for children’s educational success than their family’s socio-economic status. Another study found only one in 10 young people who read rarely or never read scored above the level expected for their age compared with one in three of young people who read every day.
Reading for pleasure is an activity that has real emotional and social impact; research illustrates the importance of reading for pleasure for both educational purposes as well as personal development. Evidence suggests that reading for pleasure leads to increased attainment: pupils who read more are better readers. This may lead to more enjoyment of reading; greater enjoyment may lead to higher attainment.
7 Top Tips
How to support your child with reading
Reading with your child
Parents and the home environment are essential to the early teaching of reading and fostering a love of reading. Parental involvement in a child’s literacy has been reported as a more powerful force than other family background variables, such as social class, family size and level of parental education. Findings report that parents’ engagement with their children’s reading life has a positive impact on their children’s reading performance.
How to encourage a reluctant reader
- Find out about books centred around your child’s interests
- Read stories you enjoyed as a young person to your child
- Listen to audiobooks together
- Read non-fiction books or articles about your child's interests and hobbies
- Ask your child’s teacher for advice
Help with choosing books
If your child has a specific interest or genre of fiction/non-fiction they prefer, searching on book shop websites can offer suggestions of books that might be suitable for your child. Utilising a local library or bookshop and speaking to the staff will provide you with a selection of books that your child may enjoy.
Within school, we study a number of texts and themes. We have collated a related reading list if you require some support in selecting books or your child has particularly enjoyed a specific text at school.
Pie Corbett is an inspirational poet, author and editor of over 250 books, including the bestselling Creating Storytellers and Writers and Jumpstart! Literacy. A former teacher, headteacher, lecturer and English inspector, Pie is known in the education world for developing ‘Talk for Writing’ and for providing training to teachers.
Pie has developed a ‘reading spine’ with suggested texts for year 5 and 6 pupils. Follow these links to view:
